Search

On June 30th, yet another influential figure in dance, Pina Bausch died. And apparently she was only diagnosed just five days before she passed, and I can’t even imagine how hard that must have been for her and those close to her. A cancer diagnosis is pretty devastating by itself, but to pass away in just five days is almost not enough time to come to terms with it or get that added “benefit” of saying goodbye to your loved ones in the interim. It’s unfair really…and she was such a remarkable woman with a unique perspective on movement. Many of her dances actually scared me even…as I’m kind of a shallow, happy-go-lucky, doesn’t take anything seriously kind of person. Her works were so intense and visceral (hello, Le Sacre du Printemps!), they elicited emotions in me that I don’t experience regularly. I’m just not that complex, and I think her understanding of the world was something else for sure. But as far as the Rite of Spring is concerned, she defos did Stravinsky proud…I’m not even sure Nijinsky or Bejart (as striking and controversial as their choreography was), captured the magnitude or weight of that music the way she did.

I actually knew of her from taking a class, and we watched a few things including Café Müller and Kontakt-hof. Even though the natural tendencies of my brain are unfortunately lacking in an ability to appreciate the avant garde to the fullest, I find it amazing and important that she was able to create dances that made me feel things other than romance and jubilation which I get from watching ballet. In a way, I think the most profound effect she had on me was to teach me to feel a fuller spectrum of emotions as a dance audience member, and to not simply gravitate towards what I naturally favor all the time. Being an unbalanced human being in any direction is never really a good thing.

There’s obviously nothing funny I can say about Pina’s passing, but I do want to thank her for her creativity and recognize her influence in the world of dance. May she rest in peace.

I tried to wear all black to ballet class today to kind of honor her in my own way, but as you know I no longer have black shoes and the white shoes made me look like I was out of my mind. Although, for you comic book geeks, all black with white shoes was totally a look the Black Cat of Spiderman fame was rocking, so I can’t be too ashamed if I’m channeling a little Felicia Hardy (I didn’t inherit her power to bring about bad luck though…as evidenced by the fact that I found five 4-leaf clovers at the park the other day. True story!).

And my apologies for ending this entry so abruptly and awkwardly. I had a few more words I wanted to say about Pina Bausch, but the writing of this entry was interrupted by the invasion of a house centipede, which give me the SUPER heebie jeebies…I seriously can’t sleep if I see one in the house, and although I try to set bugs free outside, house centipedes have blinding speed rendering them vastly unpredictable, so an assassination was carried out. Target eliminated, but the cost was my train of thought. Sorry!